Even with its proximity to Washington, DC's much larger museums, the Alexandria Archaeology Museum still manages to stand out in the crowd. It may not tell the tale of the entire nation, like many of the museums in the country's capital do, but it does give an in-depth look at the backstory of Alexandria.

Its central exhibit is called Archaeologists at Work: The Lee Street Site, and it explores Alexandria layer by layer. The Lee Street dig site encompassed an entire city block, so the archaeologists who dug up pieces of history here had a lot of ground to cover—literally. Check out the exhibit to see what they found and learn more about the lives of Alexandria's citizens in years past. You can also enjoy the other smaller exhibits, which shed some light on findings from smaller excavation sites around the area. Be sure to stop by this spring to explore this local museum!

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/Mike Steele